Monthly Archives: May 2017

From The Jam – The Cavern Club Live Lounge, Liverpool

The hottest night of the year so far, and I was Going Underground. Not as a safe haven from the Sounds From the Street, but to hunker down and resolutely celebrate cultural values increasingly under attack. This was the first … Continue reading

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Kingdom come, beyond Del Amitri – the Justin Currie interview

Chances are that you probably still know Justin Currie best for Del Amitri, the Scottish alternative/crossover outfit who enjoyed a dozen top-40 hits over a decade in the wake of 1990’s classic breakthrough single, Nothing Ever Happens. But this Glaswegian singer-songwriter … Continue reading

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Absolute game on – reconvening the Skids: the Richard Jobson interview

While there’s inevitably a sombre undertone bearing in mind guitarist Stuart Adamson’s sad passing 15 years ago, it’s fair to say Richard Jobson is relishing the chance to relive his youth while charting new territory with a reborn Skids outfit. … Continue reading

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Delivering the late bloomer’s last rider – the Ron Sexsmith interview

The morning I spoke to Ron Sexsmith, he was in the pensive frame of mind I might have expected. Despite leaving his adopted city of Toronto for a new base 90 miles away in Stratford, Ontario, barely a week before, … Continue reading

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Exploring the enduring legacy of ABBA – the Carl Magnus Palm interview

In the week Lucie Jones flies the flag for the UK in Kiev at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest finals, it seemed apt to feature a recent interview with a Swede whose early memories of the competition centred around his … Continue reading

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Still touched by Blondie’s presence, past and future – the Chris Stein interview

After more than 40 million albums worldwide, six UK and four US No.1 singles, Blondie are back with an 11th studio album and doing the rounds again this side of the Atlantic, their youthful energy belying the ages of their … Continue reading

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Sounds from the Other City – Salford St Philip’s Church

As someone who associates the festival circuit with camping fields, lush greenery, damp tents and mud-caked marquees, I struggled to get my head around Greater Manchester’s latest sell-out ‘celebration of new music, performance and art’. But on the evidence of … Continue reading

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